Langley’s Wallace, Kim range from Redwoods to the U.S. Women's Open

Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun05.20.2014

Jessica Wallace (left) and Sue Kim, pictured in April in Florida. The Langley duo, who grew up together as friends and golfing rivals, will both take part in next month’s U.S. Women’s Open in North Carolina.

VANCOUVER — Jessica Wallace and Sue Kim did almost everything together. They attended the same Langley high school, played at the same golf course, had the same golf coach and, perhaps most importantly, shared the same big dreams.

They were fierce junior golf rivals who became best friends and now they get to share another experience, one they both dreamed about while banging all those balls at the driving range at Redwoods Golf Course.

Both are headed to the U.S. Women’s Open next month at the famed Pinehurst No. 2 course in North Carolina.

“We are pretty much like sisters,” Wallace said over the phone Tuesday from Charlotte, N.C., where she will play this week in a Symetra Tour event. “We have known each other for so long. We were each other’s main competition growing up so it was always you wanted to beat Sue and she always wanted to beat me. It really just made us closer in the end. I am ecstatic that she is going to be there, too.”

“We are best friends,” Kim said Tuesday. “We grew up together pretty much, we had the same coach (Sean Richardson), played at the same golf course and we went to the same school. We spent nearly 24 hours a day together and never really got sick of each other.”

Wallace and Kim, both former B.C. Junior Girls champions who graduated from Walnut Grove secondary, qualified at separate sectional sites on Monday.

Kim shot rounds of 67 and 75 to finish third at a site in Virginia, while Wallace fired rounds of 77 and 71 to finish tied for second at another qualifier near Atlanta.

“Sue and I have known each other for around 11 years now,” Wallace says. “Ever since she moved to British Columbia and started showing up at golf tournaments we have been really good friends.”

Redwoods managing director Doug Hawley has known Wallace and Kim since they were kids.

“They grew up here,” Hawley said Tuesday. “Every time you looked down at the putting green you’d see the two of them standing together and talking and putting and practising. It’s good to see local kids doing well.”

Wallace and Kim, both 23, took different paths after graduating from Walnut Grove. Wallace went to the University of Colorado and spent four years playing collegiate golf. Kim gave college a brief try before turning pro.

After earning her promotion from the Symetra Tour, Kim has regular status on the LPGA Tour this year. Wallace is in her second full season on the Symetra Tour and feels like she is beginning to get the hang of life as a professional golfer. She has made four of six cuts so far this year.

“I have been getting my feet under me this year,” Wallace says. “I have been making cuts and I feel like I have been improving for the most part on a week-to week-basis. So I really feel like my game is on an upswing right now and I have been able to figure out how to balance the amount of competition we go through with the amount of rest I need to take. I am getting the hang of things out here and am really looking forward to the rest of the season.”

This will be the first U.S. Open for Wallace and the third for Kim, who made the cut in her previous two appearances in 2012 and 2011. Kim is playing this week in the Airbus LPGA Classic in Mobile, Ala.

“I’m stoked about it,” Wallace says. “I’m so happy to be able to play the U.S. Open. It is obviously something you dream about. I am just really excited to go. I played Pinehurst before but it was while they were doing the renovations so I am excited to see the final results of the changes they have made.”

Although they now play on different tours, Wallace and Kim talk regularly and last month spent some time together at Kim’s Orlando residence. They will undoubtedly play some practice rounds together at the U.S. Open, which goes June 19-22.

“She called me last night after she saw that I made it so we talked and we’re both really excited that we’re both going to be there,” Wallace says.

CHIP SHOTS: Fellow Canadians Brooke Henderson and Rebecca Lee Bentham have also qualified for the U.S. Open. So has 11-year-old Lucy Li of Redwood Shores, Calif. She is in Grade 6.

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Langley’s Wallace, Kim range from Redwoods to the U.S. Women's Open

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